Good hat-trick in Warriors’ win

Dominating in the opening minutes of the game, the Warriors took the lead through forward DJ Good on 2:31. Growing into the contest, Blackburn began to trouble Whitley’s defence with more frequency.

A chance for Hawks’ Alternate Captain Bobby Streetly then allowed the Warriors to counter, Zajac driving forwards in the dying minutes of the stanza only for his shot to skim Walker’s glove. Kippin then saw his effort saved on the buzzer to leave the score line at 1-0 going into the middle stanza.

Warriors doubled their lead on a power play through Latvian defenceman Rolands Gritāns, but Hawks halved their deficit through Ross Kennedy on 29:51.

Whitley, however, reclaimed their two-goal lead when Canadian forward Phil Edgar set up Connolly who found the top corner of Walker’s net on 36:08. Just 61 seconds later, Watson surpassed the Hawks’ defence with a speculative shot to send Whitley in with a 4-1 lead at the second interval.

The Hawks bagged their second goal when Captain Luke Boothroyd fired through the five-hole on 43:56 to make it 4-2.

Striving to kill Blackburn’s momentum, Player-Coach David Longstaff pulled off a neat move to set up Zajac which Walker anticipated. Despite this, Whitley struck moments later as Good claimed his second of the evening.

Retaliating, Bannon fired at Boyle who headed the puck away but the Warriors added a sixth to their tally shortly afterwards, Campbell capitalising on a delayed penalty courtesy of ‘D’ man Josh Maddock. A hooking penalty for Streetly two minutes later then provided Whitley with a power play and the side capitalised as Good slotted home to achieve his hat-trick.